Collector Pays $20,000, Enjoys Artist Opening A Lot

Voltaire is said to have remarked, "Once a philosopher, twice a sodomite!" when regarding man-on-man loving. So, if an artist sells themselves more than once, is it only then they are a prostitute? Artist Andrea Fraser will be asked and debating that question for some time. For $20,000, of which $10,000 went to the gallery, an unidentified collector spent an evening with the artist, a hotel room and a video camera. What transpired was captured on tape and is now available for viewing from June 10 through July 9 at Friedrich Petzel Gallery.

The following quote and above image come courtesy of Friedrich Petzel Gallery.

"'Untitled' 2003 was initiated in 2002 when Andrea Fraser approached Friedrich Petzel Gallery to arrange a commission with a private collector on her behalf. The requirements for the commission were to include a sexual encounter between Fraser and a collector, which would be recorded on videotape, with the first exemplar of the edition going to the participating collector. The resulting videotape is a silent, unedited, sixty-minute document shot in a hotel room with a stationary camera and existing lighting.

'Untitled' is a continuation of Fraser's twenty-year examination of the relationships between artists and their patrons. Known for her performances in the form of gallery tours and analyses of collecting by museums, corporate art institutions, and private collectors, Untitled shifts the focus of this investigation from the social and economic conditions of art to a much more personal terrain. The work raises issues regarding the ethical and consensual terms of interpersonal relationships as well as the contractual terms of economic exchange."

The New York Times article has found a much more succinct description of the video, "...In it, the artist is seen having sex in what some have characterized coyly as 'every imaginable position'..."

But is it art, or just pornography wrapped in the intellectual trappings of art? Would anyone care if the artist didn't look hot in a red dress? Will the girls of The Chicken Ranch and Stardust Ranch be searching for gallery representation in LA and NY? Will Dennis Hof be the Larry Gagosian of Pahrump?

So many questions, so few answers.